Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Above) Springer celebrates win number 37. (Right) Randy Goss' second gave him the points lead over Ricky Graham. AMA Grand National Championship/ Camel Pro Series: Round 14 sho rt tra ck race. H arl ey-Dav idson facto ry rid er Scott Parker, who appear ed to be fastest in practi ce, was th e seco nd fastest qual ifi er , and th e o n ly o the r rider .in the 22 second bracket with a time of 22.91. Rounding o u t th e 10 fastest qualifiers were Fran Brown, Springsteen , Hank Scott , Mik e Kidd ,Tim Johnson, J on Cornwell , Bill y Norfleet a nd Go ss. Fift y-two riders entered th e event, a mark ed increase from th e slim field of 35 th at pos ted for th e H arrin gton Half Mil e National two weeks prior. Heats Springsteen wins, Kirk makes history at Knoxville Half Mile By Jack Mangus Photos by Bert Shepard/Silver Shutter Photography MARYVILLE, TN , JUNE 25 Jay Springsteen added yet another National win to his all-time record list in the Saturday night Budweiser Smoky Mountain Half Mile, but he had to share the spotlight with Tammy Kirk, the first lady to qualify for a dirt track National final. Whil e Springsteen a lway s draws loud applause from 1 Camel Pro Seri es fans, th e loudest cheers a t Smo ky Mountain Raceway we re for Da lt on , G eo rg ia 's Kirk. Tam my brought th e house down whe n she finished thi rd in her hea t, behind Dan In gram a nd Sprin gsteen . As she crossed th e fin ish line, she th rust her left fist upward , th rilled with th e fact that by ad van ci ng to the N ati onal s he h ad m ad e ra cin g history. In scoring h is 37th Nat iona l win, Spr ingsteen a lso won his 19th half mile National , breaking th e tie he had been in fo r two weeks with Ba rt Markel for th e most career half mile wins. T he H arl ey-Davidson factory rider has also won a ll four half mile Na tional s run thus far th is year Ascot, Louisvill e, H arrington a nd Knoxville. Fin ishing second was Springsteen 's tea m ma te, Randy G oss. Goss ca me to Knox vill e wi th a o ne-poi nt lead ove r defending Grand National Ch ampion Ri cky Graham , but he left with a si x point lead over Graham 149 to 143, by virtue of his runner-u rformance and G raham 's fourth pl ace finish . T he Smoky Mountain National was th e co ncl uding race o f th e fir st half of the '83 Ca mel Pro Ser ies a nd Goss pi cked up $10,000 as point lead er. G r ah am ' s disappo in tm ent w a s lessen ed by a $6,000 chec k, h is share o f th e point fund money d istributed a t mid-season by R .J. Reyn olds. Mak ing h is first tri p to a Ca me l Pro Ser ies wi n ner' s circle was Dan In gram , who turned in a st ro ng th ird place ride. Time Trials Steve Moreh ead tu rn ed in th e fastest lap in qualifyin g, a bl ister in g 22.79 second tour o f th e banked threeeig h ths o f a mile clay oval. Moreh ead , wh o has had mor e th an hi s sha re o f D NF ' s a b oa r d C arl P atr i ck' s ma chinery this season, was riding a H arl ey-Davidson XR7 50 o u t o f Warren (O hio) H arl ey-Davidson and prep ar ed by Dave Hubin sky. "S teve ca lled us and asked to ride o ur XR here, but now he tell s us he'll be back o n Ca rl's eq uip ment next weekend," said Hubinsky after th e ra ce. Oklah oma's Ronnie J ones was sched uled to ride th e Warren H-D bik e th is sea so n, but he has been side lined with a broken leg he suffered in a Daytona T he first heat got u nderway a t 8:45 p .m . a nd th e first man into turn one was former G rand National Ch ampion Steve Eklund. Eklund was hounded by Rodney Farris from th e stan with Mor eh ead tak ing over third place from Bubba Shobert o n th e second go -around. Those four held position through six laps, but th e red flag flew, bringing the race to a halt, when Bill y Norfleet went down in turn one. Norfleet had been dicing for fifth with Team Honda's Hank Scott, but his strong ride came to an end when he exploded the haybales at the top of th e banking. Mike Hilley and Matt Rozowicz went down when they came up on Norfl eet and his downed bike. Hilley was forced to scratch from th e restart which sa w Morehead burst into the lead, foll owed by Farris and Scott, while Eklund was left spinning hi s rear tire a t th e fla sh o f th e gr een light. Morehead went o n to win , leading Farris a nd Scott into th e Nat ional. Eklund fin ished fourth a n d was semi -bou nd. Heat number two brought o ut th e to p two men in th e point standings, Goss and Graham , and the pair turned in th e kind o f ra ce th at mak es the Roll in g T h u nder Show the most exci ti ng form of racing taking pl ace in Ameri ca tod ay. Graham pulled off a trem endous hol esh ot and held the lead a ll th e way to th e checkered flag , but he was pressured every inch of th e way by Goss. T heir ba ttl e pulled th em away from th e rest o f th e field and as th ey crossed th e fin ish line th ey received a sta nd ing ovat io n from th e crowd. Finish ing third was Scott Park er. T he third hea t started with three rid ers o n the pe na lty line, o ne of th em bei ng Rog er Cru m p wh o had qual ified for this event's fin al last year. Fran Bro wn , who had qualified third fas test, chose the in sid e pol e a nd he was left beh ind by a t the sta n by Keith Da y, T im Mertens a nd Scott Adams. Day led th e field across the stan/finish line a t th e end ofthe first lap, but th e next lap saw Mertens take th e lead. Mert ens, Day and Adams hooked up in a three-man fight, but that soon became a two -man duel as Adams got a ro und Day and he and Mert en s pulled a way. The battle ended when Adams went down in turn two on th e ninth lap and Mertens rook th e win b y a comforta ble margin over Day. Brown, who had been ru n ning fourth, took th ird. The stan o f th e fourth a nd final h eat sa w th e six- r id er front row become a two-rider one wh en polesi tt er J ay Springsteen , Jon Cornwell, Ganh Brow a nd Dan Ingram were ca ught j u m pi ng th e light and moved back to th e third row , the penalty line. The two riders left on the front row wer e Rob Crabbe and Tammy Kirk and it was Cr abbe who led the field across th e stan/fin ish line for the first two laps. Ingram, who had sto rmed off th e penalty line, took the lead away from Crabbe on the third lap and went on to win. But the crowd's attention was focused on two riders - Kirk and Springsteen. Tammy held third for the first three laps, but Springsteen was charging through the field from his penalty line start and on the fourth lap he and Tammy came across the stan/finish line side- by-side. Springsteen took the high line through turns one and two and shot ahead of Kirk down the backstraight. Springsteen 's pass had dropped Kirk to third, but both worked their way around Crabbe on the next two laps to take th e place and show positions behind Ingram. The crowd roared as Tammy passed the fin ish li ne and the roar increased as sh e pulled into the pits after her cool-off lap. Rider after rider came to her p it area to congratulate her and her pit crew, which is headed by her father. T ex Peel, Ricky Graham's mentor, su m med up th e feelings of all when he sa id, "T hat' s one hell of a lady. She's worked hard for this and deserv es all th e credit in th e world. " Kirk received another ovation when she was brought out to the start/ finish line and addressed the crowd. "This really feels great ." said Tammy. " We ca me close last year right here (she just mi ssed qualifying for the fin al in '82 when she finished fourth in her heat and second in her semi) and I'm really happy about doing it here because thi s is so close to home," said T amm y, whose Georgia home is just a little over 100 miles south of Maryvill e. " I want to thank my parents, Sm itt y'S Ha rley-Davidson . Carlisle. Sure-Fire a nd KRW . T ex Peel did th e cyli nders and head on my engine and lowe him a special thank you." Semis Team Honda's Mike Kidd , the 1981

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